Vivo said it will use Ericsson to provide LTE solutions across North and Center-West regions, as well as in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Bahia. Ericsson will also responsible for the network core and the contract also includes the implementation of LTE infrastructure, as well as designing and supporting the network.

Telefónica is the sixth largest mobile network provider in the world. It plans to deploy 4,700 radio base stations, of which Ericsson will be responsible for 2,700 and Huawei for 2,000 sites.

The selection follows that by rival América Móvil’, which had previously announced Ericsson and Huawei among their vendors to deploy LTE networks. América Móvil, with headquarters in Mexico City, is the fourth largest mobile network operatoris the world and one of the world’s largest corporations. América Móvil’s local mobile unit is called Claro.

According to Claro, the pilot projects will be used to improve technology and its services. The company forecasted that it will deploy LTE networks in Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador by next April to provide services for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup.

By the end of 2013, Claro expects to have LTE deployed in Cuiabá, Manaus, Natal, Porto Alegre and São Paulo, which is one of the state capital cities that will host the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Huawei will be in charge of providing infrastructure to the cities of Fortaleza, Recife and Rio de Janeiro.